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In Colorado, medical marijuana has been legal for a decade. It is growing and popping up in the stores. In the state the demands of marijuana have been growing rapidly. Already 100,000 people have been reported and registered to use this as medical marijuana. As this law has been passed weed users have used this advantage for their own satisfactory. Many people have profited from this “boom” that should not have. In the end, Colorado has limited their marijuana dispensaries to 1,100 for the state and has cut eighteen percent of them. The owners of the dispensaries are to get a license by August 1st and pay thousands of dollars to secure their license.

In Arizona the police agencies are trying to plan out how the police will keep their laws about pot without inferring the sick people that have the right to this drug. Joe Arpaio, Maricopa County Sheriff, stated that there will be teams to go out and target the frauds of the medical marijuana. The unit now only has a total of three people working on the unit. In the state other police agencies are waiting for the actual finalization of the rules that are going to be regulating medical marijuana. As the rules are being finalized both the people and police are putting in their opinions into the rules. As the rules become official all officers across the state will be put into training. It is put into two phases; the first is on just the basic issues. While the second phase deals with the more serious issues of medical marijuana.

In Dearborn the city’s chief judge made a decision that may play a big part on the medical marijuana in the state. The judge denied a motion to dismiss a marijuana case of possession. He stated that medical marijuana in Michigan is unconstitutional. The federal act, also known as The Controlled Substance Act, categorizes drugs. They said that marijuana is the most addictive and are not legal to prescribe. The police arrested a man for illegal possession of marijuana, but later he went to go see a doctor to get certified to have it. The chief judge questioned the legality of the certification from the doctor. The certification could not be used as defense to the person since it was after he had been arrested.

In this article it basically talks about how many americans actually support the use of medical marijuana and it says that about half of americans today do in fact believe that medical marijuana is something positive and we can ony benefit from it. In the 1960s and 70s the percent for agreeing to legalize marijuana was only about 12% it has increased in the past years to be about 46% today. Of course, the support is for medicinal use only and has dropped from 78% in 2005 to 70% now. “Liberals” between 18-29 are the most supportive for this use, other “conservative” people are much less supportive for this.

In this article the main topic is legalization and the pros and cons of it being legalized. Most doctors agree that it is necessary and has indeed helped a lot of patients with diseases like cancer. Others however believe that it is a major mistake legalizing marijuana in any regardless if it is for medical use or not.

Unlike the other 2 articles this Los Angeles Times article focuses mainly on why medical marijuana should definetly not be legalized. Some are afraid that it is becoming legalized only for the reason that some business men are looking for a quick buck and know that drug industry is one of the biggest industries in the world and by having the use of marijuana legal that makes it so much easier to make more money.

This article is telling us about why we should not legalize marijuana. It tells that the rate of use of marijuana has decreased 54% in the last 29 years in the US. It tells how marijuana is the most commonly abused drug in the U.S. and they are telling how we need to reduce these rates even more, and legalizing marijuana would be bad. It is stated in the article that the principle costs of marijuana use are not related to the criminal justice system. Marijuana is the leading cause of substance abuse besides alcohol in the U.S. today. If we were to legalize marijuana, the rates of users and abusers would increase severely. There are already 15.2 Billion users of marijuana today. Also, research shows that the use of marijuana is associated with increases in a range of serious mental and physical problems.

Colorado is becoming center of a new drug war, the full legalization of marijuana. Suburban communities around Colorado are worried of the up and coming drug dispensaries near their communities. People are already advocating for the full legalization of pot in Colorado as of right now, with ballots trying to collect signatures for the legalization of marijuana. This is becoming and up and rising problem in the state of Colorado and there are many concerns behind the legalization of marijuana.

This article is talking about the proposal from Michigan to legalize marijuana which was voted yes on last election. The group Citizens Protecting Michigan Kids was in opposition of legalizing medical marijuana. People in opposition claim that medical marijuana does not provide the medical benefits that it claims, they say that there are other drugs that can provide the same benefits as medical marijuana, and that it is not necessary to legalize medical marijuana to get pain relief. The Citizens Protecting Michigan Children were concerned with the street drugs and their quality and dosage amounts and keeping track of the medically sanctioned users who would obtain medical marijuana. They also bring up the point that it is a slippery slope that legalizing medical marijuana could lead to full legalization of marijuana.

Medical marijuana also known as medical cannabis has been in dispute in United States for many years. There are 15 out of 50 US states and DC that have legalized medical marijuana. Proponents of medical marijuana argue that it can be a safe and effective treatment for the symptoms of cancer, AIDS, multiple sclerosis pain, glaucoma and other medical diseases and conditions. Opponents of medical marijuana argue that it is dangerous to use the drug because it is not FDA approved. They also say marijuana is addictive and can leads to harder drug use, impairs driving and injures the brain. They also say medical marijuana is a front for drug legalization and recreational use.

Cannabis has been used as medicine for over 4,000 years. It has been used to treat sore eyes and ear aches. But throughout the years marijuana lost its image as medicine and gained its image as a drug. The United States has taken a no tolerance stance against medical marijuana. Over the years these laws have started to change state by state. Patients are being allowed to use cannabis as they are qualified by a doctor.

The vast majority of studies show that there is no such thing as "medical marijuana." In general, physicians in the United States are not thrilled with the idea that marijuana should be allowed to be prescribed. The act of smoking marijuana is fraught with so many adverse side effects that it really isn't useful in treating symptoms in any specific disease for the vast majority of sufferers. However, the active ingredient in marijuana (THC) has been shown to be useful for some patients who suffer from chronic pain, especially in refractory cases of multiple sclerosis, and in patients who are suffering from AIDS-related wasting syndrome. Even in those diseases, a minority of patients actually derive a benefit that is without unwanted side effects. THC's use as an anti-emetic for patients suffering nausea from cancer chemotherapy or as a way to lower intraocular pressure for glaucoma has been replaced by far superior new medicines that don't have the negative side effects. Heavy marijuana use results in long-term effects on the brain, including lower responses in those areas which are affected by THC. Although users are able to compensate somewhat through the use of other brain areas, the long term effects of this damage. This damage may be responsible for impairments noted in short-term and long-term memory, along with a host of possible other psychiatric illnesses. A proportion of marijuana users become addicted and suffer from classic withdrawal symptoms upon abstinence. For a minority of users, marijuana is a gateway drug, and they proceed to use and abuse more powerful drugs. Besides its effects upon the brain, marijuana use can lead to increased risks for respiratory cancers and may have some adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular effects in some users. Marijuana use during pregnancy has been shown to result in lower child intelligence, while increasing the incidence of mental health problems. The idea that marijuana is a harmless recreational pastime has been disproved through continuing scientific research. By Brenna Hammond http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/evidence99/marijuana/Health_1.html